Look at the graphic on page 57 of the Neuroplastic Transformation Workbook and read the text on “Limbic Deactivation.” It is important to fight the messages to give up and become more and more passive. Reject fear, self-loathing and self-hate. Get out of bed. Shower and dress every day. Leave your room. Get out of your home. Be as active as possible and increase that activity over time. Pay attention to the things that you can do and don’t accept the limitations of today. Push beyond these in small increments. If you experience a pain increase, back off, but pay attention to the pain, do not try to just cover it up. What brought it on? What can you do to get around it? What emotions did it bring up or what emotions were present when it started to become worse? What techniques that you have already learned can you use to bring it under control. Soothe and calm yourself. Do not let the fear of your pain overwhelm you. When the pain is under better control, get up and start moving again. Keep active, plan new approaches. Make controlling this pain your job, until you have it under better control.

Shift your point of view. Be curious about your pain. Pay attention to it. Are there feelings that the pain causes? Do these emotions remind you of anything else in your life? Do they relate to other problems that you haven’t yet resolved? Can you see the pain as a limit that can be respected, but challenged? How does the pain reduce your function and what can you do about that? Does experiencing your pain bring you to emotional places that are too frightening or overwhelming to bear?

Recall the emotions and the sense of fear, anger, loss, disappointment and sorrow. What are the feelings that occur when you let yourself think about what has happened? Can you think of ways you have had to defend your pain and have felt under attack by others. Tell your brain it is time to move on. Forgive yourself and anyone else involved. Acknowledge the emotional wounds and let them heal. Allow your pain to become part of your life story, rather than something that controls your whole life . Acknowledge what you have lost, but recognize that your losses often provide new opportunities.